04.01.2022

20 YEARS OF EURO + INTERESTING FACTS

Farewell to the pound, the franc, the mark, the peseta: on 1 January 2002, the people of twelve European countries were finally able to hold the euro in their hands, three years after its official creation.

The archives of AFP recall the first days of this historic step, filled with euphoria, but also with hesitation.

Some French New Year celebrants have made withdrawing euros from ATMs one of the New Year's attractions to touch the new currency as quickly as possible. 450,000 withdrawals were made from ATMs that night.

The first specific purchases in euros are in the small shops, which are on the front line on non-working days. They are trying to return the rest in euros as much as possible, even when they are paid in francs, as the French national currency remains a means of payment for several weeks.

In the following days, the scale changed: people returned to work and large retail outlets joined the game.

Everything is fine with the transition to the euro in Athens. The only exception is the central market under the Acropolis, where the drachma continues to prevail as a means of payment on January 3. In one of the butchers the salesman grumbles: "Let them use it, this barbaric currency!".

In Italy, where Silvio Berlusconi's government is not unanimous about the new currency, queues at banks, post offices and station counters are growing. The police have to intervene when the situation gets worse.

A toll-free "SOS Euro" number has been introduced in Naples, which receives signals of errors and irregularities in currency conversion.

The rounding of prices did not go unnoticed. In the Vatican, for example, the papal blessing on 5,000-pound parchment paper becomes 3 euros, an increase of 46 cents. Visits to Vatican museums and St. Peter's Basilica are also rising.

In Spain, many "All 100 Pesetas" stores (€ 0.60) become "All 1 Pesetas".

In most of the twelve countries, there is increasing talk of over-rounding. However, no deviation in prices has been found, the European Commission assures.

The then President of the European Central Bank (ECB), the Dutchman Wim Duisenberg, did not hesitate to share personal experience - he paid 4.45 euros for a Big Mac with a raspberry milkshake, just as it cost this menu in Deutsche Marks before the currency change.

At the end of this first week, the main problem is the shortage of low-denomination coins and banknotes in some countries.

That is why in the Netherlands, which is one of the leading examples of the changeover to the euro, some supermarkets and petrol stations are starting to return leftovers due to a shortage of small items.

In France, the government is surprised by the French 'desire to get rid of all their francs in a few days, including large banknotes hidden under mattresses or coins from children's coffers.

In order not to block the system, the banking authorities urge people not to buy bread with a banknote of 500 francs.

Despite these difficulties, the forerunner of euro banknotes and coins has been identified as successful by more than 300 million Europeans.

Two decades later, however, the dollar still rules the world as the safest currency.

When the world economy was forced to stop because of the KOVID-19 pandemic, investors rushed to exchange their assets in dollars, which led to the appreciation of the US currency.

More than $ 2.1 trillion is currently in circulation, and about 60 percent of central banks' foreign exchange reserves are in dollars. For the euro, this share is about 20 percent, according to the ECB.